


A Most Curious Map

by queenhoneebee



Series: hogwarts in the 70s [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), The Marauder's Map
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-17
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:48:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26503183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenhoneebee/pseuds/queenhoneebee
Summary: in which Lily comes across a very curious piece of parchment
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Series: hogwarts in the 70s [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1926835
Comments: 5
Kudos: 34





	A Most Curious Map

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Tumblr user: herhmione

**A Most Curious Map**

Seventh Year, Third Person

Lily sighed as she got herself comfortable on one of the sofas in the Gryffindor common room. Remus was sitting beside her, quietly writing out his final notes to add to his Transfiguration essay.

They had had to research some of the most obscure and interesting uses of Transfiguration in the real world and write an essay about how the use of the spell had improved or hindered the wizard’s life.

Remus had been researching a married couple who transfigured a normal lamp into something called a ‘lava lamp’. He had had to ask Lily what a lava lamp was, to which she had giggled before letting him know. It was a silly muggle invention that was actually quite mesmerising.

His argument that the soothing movement of the wax inside could help to calm outward worries, stress and anxiety.

Lily had been researching the case of a wizard turning their goldfish into that day’s printing of _The Daily Prophet_. Her argument was that while useful in the moment, he had failed to make the newspaper change each day, so it was really only a one-time-use item.

But, now that she was writing out her essay, she realised that she was on her last piece of parchment with still another few paragraphs to prove the point of her essay. She let out a sigh as she looked through her things.

Of course, it was just her luck that she’d left the rest of her spares in her bedroom. She looked over at Remus, who was studying dubiously.

“Rem, you wouldn’t happen to have a spare page I could borrow?” she asked. Remus looked up from his essay with a raised eyebrow. He seemed off today, like he was in one of his down moods.

His eyes were unfocused as he tried to keep whatever idea he’d been thinking in his head. It was almost as if Lily could see the idea swimming behind his irises, getting further and further away with every second that Lily distracted him.

“Oh, ah, yeah sure,” he said offhandedly, rummaging behind his work in his hand and pulling out a folded piece of parchment. He handed it over without looking at her, instead biting his lip as he refocused back on his assignment.

Lily didn’t know what he might be stressing over, seeing as McGonagall loved him and always loved his work. Lily was beginning to think that maybe she should get Remus his own lava lamp to destress.

She took the parchment and unfolded it. There was a small stain across the top, but she didn’t mind. This was just a draft that she was writing anyway. She dipped her quill into her inkpot and brought it to the page. As she was about to write her first sentence, a drop of ink splattered onto the parchment.

That wasn’t something out of the ordinary for the way that they wrote their assessment, but what _was_ curious was the way that the ink seemed to disappear into the parchment completely.

Lily felt her jaw drop in shock. Had Remus given her a jinxed parchment? How was she supposed to write her essay if the words wouldn’t stick to the page?

Then her eyes widened again when something showed up of its own accord.

_Mr Moony would like to ask Miss Evans if she could please put the map down before all hell breaks loose._

Lily couldn’t find any words. She didn’t know what was going on. Who was Mr Moony? She didn’t know anyone by that name.

_Mr Padfoot would like to tell Miss Evans not to put the map down because he’s quite looking forward to Mr Prongs shitting his pants._

Lily frowned. There was another person now? Or two more, technically.

She looked up from the parchment and over at Remus, who hadn’t paid her any mind since he’d given her the parchment. She decided to turn her attention back to the page to see what else it might say.

_Mr Moony would like to tell Mr Padfoot to stop saying shit._

Lily held in a chuckle as the paper seemed to begin arguing with itself.

_Mr Wormtail would like to tell Miss Evans that her hair looks nice today and also, is Mr Prongs doing okay?_

Lily’s hand ran haphazardly through her auburn hair. She hadn’t had the chance to brush it today and had just thrown it up into a messy bun.

Whoever ‘Mr Wormtail’ was was very flattering but she was a little freaked out. How did it know what she looked like?

_Mr Prongs is not doing okay._

_Mr Padfoot would like to ask Miss Evans if she could find this piece of parchment more often?_

_Mr Prongs would like to say ‘fuck you’ to Mr Padfoot and would also like to ask Miss Evans if she has ever had feelings for a swell lad named Mr James Potter?_

Lily’s eyes widened as she blushed, and she suddenly looked up from the parchment. Her lips parted slightly as she cast her eyes around the common room. Was someone jinxing her parchment on purpose, in person, to get a rise out of her?

Was it James? Is that why that question had come up?

As she looked around the common room, though, Lily couldn’t see anyone in the room besides a fifth-year girl who looked to be pulling her hair out as they came up to their O.W.L.’s.

She couldn’t blame the girl, she knew how stressful final exams were. Everyone else seemed to be in bed, which wasn’t surprising seeing as it was the early hours of the morning right now.

Maybe that’s what was happening, and Lily’s lack of sleep was starting to play tricks on her. She looked back to the parchment.

_Mr Moony would like to slam his head against a wall._

_Mr Wormtail thinks perhaps Miss Evans should put this parchment down and walk away._

Lily was about to listen to Mr Wormtail until…

_Mr Prongs does not want Miss Evans to put this down as he’s still waiting on an answer about the whole James Potter thing._

Lily blushed.

_Mr Padfoot is having the time of his life._

Lily gave a small chuckle at that. Whoever Padfoot and Moony were, they seemed like they might be fun to be around. Wormtail seemed like a people-pleaser, and Prongs seemed cocky, as if they were maybe the leader of this little group.

_Mr Padfoot would also like to say that this James fellow seems like an awful human being who smells like dung. But, that’s just Mr Padfoot’s impression._

_Mr Prongs would like to tell Mr Padfoot to SHUT THE HELL UP!_

Lily smirked at the parchment.

_Mr Moony apologises to Miss Evans._

_Mr Prongs would like to say that James Potter is in fact a wonderful bloke and Mr Prongs has heard that he would make a wonderful boyfriend._

Lily’s jaw dropped as she read those words. She didn’t fully understand what was going on here.

_Mr Padfoot thinks Mr Prongs is good at being subtle._

_Mr Prongs thinks Mr Padfoot should stick his head up his ass._

“Okay, what the fuck is this?” Lily laughed, sensing that Padfoot and Prongs were about to break out into an argument.

Remus looked up from his assignment to focus is gaze on the parchment in her hands. His eyes widened as he realised what he’d given her.

He reached for the page in a hurry.

“Oh… ahhh…,” he worried. “Oh, sorry, I gave you the wrong parchment.” He quickly handed her a new blank sheet, but Lily narrowed her eyes at her friend.

“No, what was that? And why was it telling me that it thinks Potter is boyfriend material?”

Remus swallowed largely as his eyes widened and a blush crept to the sallow apples of his cheeks.

“Oh, it’s ahh, nothing. I… uhmm… I confiscated it from a third year. It’s some parchment jinxed to insult the reader. He got it from _Zonko’s_ in Hogsmeade and was using it to tease a couple of first years. I was going to hand it to McGonagall in the morning,” he hurried to fix things.

Lily narrowed her eyes at her friend, who conveniently, wouldn’t meet her gaze. She could tell that Remus was keeping something from her, but it didn’t seem her place to prod especially as he was so stressed about this essay.

“Okaaay…” she conceded, gathering her things. “Well, I don’t think I’m going to get anything else done tonight so I think I’m going to go to bed. Promise me you’ll get at least _some_ sleep tonight?”

Remus was focused back on his essay and gave her a halfhearted wave that told her that he wasn’t really listening. She rolled her eyes. She knew she’d find him curled up on the sofa in the morning with his hair all over the place and his essay in a heap on the floor.

She couldn’t change her friend.

And now, as she walked back to her room, she couldn’t get out of her head all of the things that the parchment had said to her. In the last few years, she’d been coming around to James Potter.

When she’d first met him at the sorting ceremony in their first year, she’d thought he was an entitled and immature little prankster who she wanted nothing to do with. And, while he was still all those things – especially the immature part, but mostly in a charming way, now – she had come to know some good things about him.

Like the way he’d opened his home to Sirius, or the way he’d spared her humiliation in their DADA class last year learning to cast the Patronus charm.

She bit her lip as her head hit the pillow that night. She couldn’t deny he’d grown into himself and gotten more handsome as the years went by.

And now she couldn’t deny her imagination running wild at the thought that he might make a good boyfriend – just like the parchment had said – she would never be bored, that was for sure.

So, she fell asleep that night with a troublemaker smile on her mind, wondering if those lips could kiss as well as she thought they could.

**She got _love_ on the brain…**

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find this one shot on my Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/QueenHoneeBee  
> Or at: https://www.wattpad.com/story/205167351-marauders-one-shots


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